


In Which Lily is in Control of Her Hell and Didn't Even Know

by AwkwardDuckProducktions



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, College, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone needs a shower, Gen, I know, I'm a shame to my kind, Lily is a weeaboo in college and you can't change my mind, Lily is tired, Lily's gf Alice, Make them take a shower, Mentions of Mr Stevens, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, Real lack of closet jokes, Sibling Love, Southern!Sammy, Sweet rice, because fuck you, mentions of eating disorders, mentions of tests, please god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 06:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardDuckProducktions/pseuds/AwkwardDuckProducktions
Summary: Lily is suffocating on her brother's and Sammy's self pity. Read to save her





	In Which Lily is in Control of Her Hell and Didn't Even Know

It didn't take a phenomenal investigating journalist to see Sammy Stevens was struggling. He hadn't properly slept in a week, Lily initially finding him curled up in a corner of the library or sleeping at the kitchen table. He wasn't eating well either, surviving mostly on coffee and sweet tea ("I have to drink it." He joked one day, "It's how I keep my southern card") and handfuls of shredded cheese in the middle of the night. He wasn't even showering. Which worried Lily the most, being as he sweats on everything. But the most troubling thing was that finals were over.  
Jack, however, was struggling in his own way. Not getting out of bed until late afternoon only to go sleep again at midnight. When he was awake, he's constantly eating or weight lifting. She had hoped he was just having wild nights with some classmate but that theory was killed when she took out the trash and found no evidence. She wouldn't be so worried if rugby season wasn't for another couple of months. Jack also wasn't showering, filling their small home with the stench of testosterone and sweat. Lily faced the facts: she either had to fix them both or die by suffocation.

"Who you texting there?" Lily asked on day one of Operation: Clean Air. Jack, half asleep squinting at his phone, raised an eyebrow.  
"Hugo."  
"Huge-o Hugo? I thought that was a one time thing."  
"I can have male friends and not have sex with them." He wasn't even looking at her.  
"I didn't know you were still on speaking terms."  
"Well I don't just get off and leave, Lily. Unlike you." For a moment, blinding rage filled her until she remembered that there's no room for arguments in her master plan. Plus, it was a good thing! He's angry! With that knowledge, she went out and into Phase Two.

She only had to follow her nose to find Sammy. He sat in at a table in the cafeteria with thirty two ounces of sweet tea in his shaky hands. He seemed fixated on the lid so Lily took the opportunity to sneak up on him. Just as she was about to shout behind him, his narrow shoulders fell forward with his head smacking the table. Sammy didn't seem to mind however as his breathing stayed slow and even. "Sammy?" She asked.  
No response.  
"Sam?"  
No response.  
"Sammy-kuun?"  
No response.  
"Hey, you depressed bastard." She nudged him only to get no response. Worry began to dance in her head. She sat next to him and maneuvered him to an upright position. That's when his stomach grumbled in protest. There wasn't a sigh big enough to contain all the emotions Lily was feeling. Well that answers the question for Phase Two; he's anxious. He knows he worries then when he doesn't eat so that's why he's been sleeping everywhere but home. He sleeps so he doesn't have to eat. He doesn't eat...  
"Lily?" His voice rough with sleep.  
"Hey Sammy." Her voice betrayed her with concern leaking out. Even in his foggy state, he noticed.  
"Lily whatever you're about to say-"  
"I'll make your disgusting sweet rice if you come home right now." His eyes searched hers for any hint of a lie. But she was desperate. She rather die from sweet rice than from the male musk.  
"Okay."

The walk home took longer than expected. Sammy had a couple close calls, but eventually they were home. He shuffled to the table tempted to let his head down. Lily however gave him a stern look so he knew better. The water started to boil when Jack walked in. "Are you making rice?"  
"Yeah, for resident Dickhead over there." She nudged towards the table. He hadn't even notice him sitting there, blending into the yellow walls.  
"Oh hey, thought you had moved out or something." Eyes like glass casted down their gaze. Lily watched in horror as her brother rolled his eyes. All theories were out the window. All planning turned useless. Something had happened between them. She turned off the stove.  
"We don't have any sugar." Lily announced. "Sammy, eat some peanut butter while Jack and I go to the store." They both wanted to argue, Jack mainly because he knew what she was doing, but she tossed the jar to Sammy and dragged Jack out the door.

"The fuck is your problem today!"  
"The fuck is your problem for the last week!" A ten minute walk to the store quickly became forty as they argued. "You're either sleeping for nearly sixteen hours or weight lifting or eating! You haven't showered in days! It smells so bad! I'm literally suffocating in that house!" People crossed the street to avoid their argument.  
"Maybe if you did something with your life, you wouldn't have to smell it!" He moved to walk away only for Lily grabbed his arm.  
"Jack, it's not me you're angry at."  
"I'm pretty sure-"  
"Jack, what happened between you and Sammy?"

When they returned nearly an hour later, Lily found the peanut butter jar not in the table. Nor was Sammy. Jack pulled Lily to Sammy's room and put a finger to his lips. "He hides in his closet," he signed.  
"Why do you know this?"  
"You're not the only journalist in this house." They crept up to the the closet door and heard soft shaky breathing.  
"How do you want to get him out?" She signed backing away.  
"I'm not getting him out." He replied in a huff. They stood, Jack's back to the door. Lily grimaced, eyes lacking understanding. In one swift movement, everything changed.

He knew he fucked up. His only friend hated him and his sister was worried. Lily expressing concern was never good. Sammy thought of how to break the lease without them knowing. Saying goodbye to them would shatter him more than he could ever fix. Maybe he could join one of those church housing for undergrads. He spent nineteen years pretending, what's another four? His thoughts bounced to a life without the Wright siblings. That is, until a Wright fell on his lap.  
"Lily!" Jack screamed as she shut the door.  
"Talk to him, you dickweed!" There was scraping across the floor as Lily moved supposedly the dresser in front of the closet. "You'll thank me later!"  
"Like hell I will!" Her foot fall only got softer and the bedroom door was closed. Sammy still shocked at his accursed luck finally caught his breath. Jack blindly turned his head. Short warm breaths washed over his lips. "I'm sitting on you, aren't I?" Sammy nodded. "It's pick black in here, Sammy. You gotta use your words."  
"Yeah." Barely a whisper but Jack heard. He crawled to the other side of the closet but even then Sammy's legs bracketed his body. Words died his lips. He didn't want to, but it's for the best. Sammy needs to say goodbye but his selfish heart broke with every try.  
"Why do you hide in the closet?" Jack broke him from his spiral. "It can't be comfortable for your spider legs."  
"It's a force of habit."  
"You got a lot of destructive habits, Sammy." He sounded so tired. Sammy was tired of his own bullshit too. Jack shifted, his leg brushed against Sammy's and for a moment Sammy thought of a life without them. Without their laughter echoing the home. Jack's tender casual touches. Lily's sly smile. This was going to be an unfair break, he was losing part of his heart with them.  
"Jack, I'm sorry-"  
"Don't." Jack took a couple of breaths. "Listen, I haven't been approaching this in a... good way. I got angry, reasonably so. But my actions have not be beneficial to either of us. You can believe it that I came to that conclusion in my own because it's too fucking dark to be reading anything Lily might have written down." He allowed himself a chuckle before continuing. "What I don't get... is why you called me that? Like it's one thing to hear it from strangers, but you are my friend." He said are, not were. "So why?" Sammy felt both far away and crushed by him. Everything told him to escape but he can't even do that.  
"It wasn't about you." If there was anything in his stomach, he would throw up right now.  
"What do you mean? We were comparing final scores. You got an 89. I got the 86."  
"It wasn't about you." He prayed to a god that hated him for anything but this.  
"Who else could be about?" His anger barely held back. Each word like a stab to his heart. Sammy at least had the darkness to hide his tears.  
"Me."

Sammy waited. Each moment felt like a century trapped. He tried to muffle his sobs in his shirt, but Jack sat only inches away. His muscles and skin melted from bones too weak. All he could do was cry and wait.  
"Sammy. You know that I'm gay, right?" Anger shed with each breath. "I wouldn't have thought of you differently. That's really counterproductive." Sammy shook his head.  
"I- it- Jack, come on-"  
"Sammy, why would I, your gay friend, think badly of you for being gay? Please concentrate on that."  
"Because I've already had people try to tell me that I'm not!" The more he shouted, the more his body curled into himself. "Since I don't act a certain way, or I don't have the lisp, or some other bullshit reason! Hell, my own father thinks I'm wasting my time in college. He thinks that I can't possibly be gay since I'm not flamboyant." He choked out some sobs. "It shouldn't bother me, but he keeps asking when I'm going to bring Lily home. Keeps trying to give me tips on sex. It's awful!" More wrecked cries escaped his trembling lips.  
"Take some deep breaths before you barf." His voice filled with concern rather than rage. Sammy found himself struggling until a hand touched his knee. "Deep breaths, Sammy Long Legs." His hand rested on top of Jack's as he forced a few.  
"My therapist even thought I wasn't really gay." Jack grabbed his hand and stroked his knuckles. The words burned as they came forth.  
"Sammy,"  
"I couldn't go through that with you." Whimpers crawled in his lips. Even in a closet in the dark, he felt bare. Eyes from disembodied ghosts watched him. Waiting for him to make a mess of his life.  
"Oh Sammy." His voice was so far away. The eyes were too bright. "Do you need a hug? I feel like I need to give you a hug and welcome you to the club." The eyes closed and suddenly Jack was only an arm's reach away. "That's complete shit. They had no fucking right to say that. Also I'm-" All he had to do is reach out and grab. Jack fell easily into his arms only with a slight oof of surprise. Laughter graced his mind as his friend's arms wrapped around him. "I'm going to fight your dad."  
"By all means, please do." Sammy joined in the laughter, arms tighten.  
"Did you tell him she's mostly a lesbian? And hates the smell of you?"  
"I did." He gave himself a sniff and agreed for once with Lily. "Let's not talk about what he said." A silence came peacefully between them. Time nearly froze between them.  
"You know what this means, Sammy?"  
"What?"  
"We can go to gay bars together now." Jack shot up from his arms. "We can wingman each other!" Sammy doubled at Jack's excitement. "I can finally talk about boys with someone!" His giggles and Jack's realizations echoed off the close walls. "Sam! Sam! Sammy, you can join the other gays! Oh my god! My two favorite things get to collide!" Thick arms wrapped around Sammy's neck and a whisper only for him. "I believe you. Welcome to the gay club, Sammy."

Giggles and shouts came from down the hall. "Thought you said you were alone." Lily thought about it then remembered.  
"That's just Jack and Sammy. I trapped them in the closet." Alice turned to her girlfriend in mock shock.  
"Sounds like they're having a good time." She smirked into her beer.  
"Gross. Don't make me think about Jack and Sammy getting together." She pretended to gag before falling into chuckles.  
"If they do, you realize it will be your fault."  
"I'm a journalist-"  
"-in training" Dark brown eyes glared at smiling face of Alice.  
"There's no way they'll get together. Sammy is Axe's number one patron besides every middle school boy in the US. No way he's gay."


End file.
